At 9:30 a.m., school officials received an email from an anonymous source making a non-specific threat against the high school, police said.

The school was evacuated out of an abundance of caution.

Students were moved to the middle school, where backpacks were left outside for police to examine.

“It was a day of running around and taking care of our children. That was what this was all about,” Methuen School Superintendent Judith Scannell said.

The incident comes one day after more than a dozen Massachusetts schools received bomb threats.

"We are aware that there have been a number of threats made against Massachusetts high schools in the past two weeks, but we want the community to know and understand that they have no bearing on our response and investigation today," Police Chief Joseph Solomon said.